The Breakdown of Democracy

On October 15, 1969, President Abdirashiid
Ali Shermaarke was assassinated by a member of the police force who believed
that his clan group had been treated unjustly. The assassination
ended civilian rule in Somalia (13).
Prime Minister Igaal attempted to arrange for the selection of a new president
by the National Assembly, but many people felt that there was no hope for
improving the country in this manner (14).
On the morning of October 21, the armed forces
staged a bloodless coup led by General Siad Barre and organized as the
Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC). The SRC installed Barre, a member
of the Marehan sub-clan of the Darod clan, as the new president.
Barre and his men were initially seen as heroes who had come to save their
nation, which had fallen into corruption, and to restore true democracy
(15).
Far from restoring democracy, though, Barre
implemented “scientific socialism” as the form of government. The
goal of this new system was to drastically change Somali society and to
“end tribalism, nepotism, corruption, and misrule” (16).
The new system banned political parties, abolished the National Assembly,
and suspended the constitution. Restrictions were passed on individual
rights, including the highly valued freedom of speech. Those who
spoke out against the government were

Painting of Muhammad Siad Barre

arrested and some were even executed
(17).
With these new policies, Barre’s regime quickly wore off its welcome.
In 1976, the Somali Revolutionary Socialist
Party (SRSP) replaced the SRC. Though this technically ended the
military rule of Somalia, Barre and his men still held the reins of power.
Barre had lost the support of the public, as he seemed to relinquish his
aim of socialist development, equality, and national unity. He instead
increased the use of terror and repression against clans in order to retain
personal power (18). The regime relied
heavily on the support of the Darod clan, especially the Marehan, Dolbahnte,
and Ogaden sub-clans (19). The Red Berets,
an elite unit composed of Barre’s Marehan clansmen, mercilessly terrorized
the Hawiye and Issaq clans, who had begun to form an organized resistance
against him (20).

During the 1980’s the Somali economy
took a turn for the worse. Stiff competition for the Saudi Arabian
market cut heavily into what had once been a Somali monopoly. Saudi
Arabia had accounted for over 90 percentof Somali exports.
In addition, severe drought throughout the decade took its toll on the
Somali livestock, which represented more than 80 percent of the goods that
Somalia exported
(21). The poor economy
created difficult times and lowered morale throughout the country.
July 14, 1989 marked the beginning of the
end of Siad Barre’s regime. On this hot summer Friday afternoon in
Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, Barre’s troops fired at Islamic worshippers
as they left the city’s mosques. The troops regarded the worshippers
as demonstrators. Hundreds were killed and the violence continued
in the days that followed (22). Most
of those killed were members of the Issaq clan, who were picked out because
of their clan origin. The violence quickly spread into the countryside.
In early 1990, the Washington Post reported:

“The 20-year rule of Somali leader Mohammed Siad Barre appears
to be crumbling… The octogenarian ruler is unable to control the nation’s
armed forces, which are accused of committing recent mass murders of civilians
in central Somalia and numerous acts of banditry, looting, and harassment…
The Presidential Guards are the prime suspects in increasing numbers of
rapes and robberies of civilians and foreign aid warehouses” (23).

By mid-1990 the civil unrest in Mogadishu had
increased significantly as armed, clan-based opposition to Barre began
to coordinate their efforts. On July 6, an anti-Barre demonstration
deteriorated into a riot in which the Red Berets opened fire on the protesters,
killing at least 65 of them
(24). Barre
soon became a prisoner in his own compound, located in the center of Mogadishu.
By this time, he had control over only a small section of the city.
Barre’s army had collapsed into clan-based factions, with only the Marehan
clan soldiers remaining loyal to the president (25).
On January 27, 1991, Barre left Mogadishu
in a military convoy, returning to the land of his kinsmen for safety (26).
Thus, the dictatorship of Siad Barre came to end and Somalia was left in
a state of anarchy.